DX Spectrum vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Broadcom and Progress Software are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Broadcom is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.5, while Progress Software is ranked #26 with an average rating of 7.0. Broadcom holds a 1.7% mindshare in NMS, compared to Progress Software’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

DX Spectrum

Read 118 DX Spectrum reviews

14,941 Views
8,965 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

15,052 Views
8,279 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

DX Spectrum

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

DX Spectrum and WhatsUp Gold compete in the network monitoring category. DX Spectrum holds an advantage in large-scale environments due to its comprehensive monitoring features, while WhatsUp Gold is preferred for its ease of use in simpler network setups.

Features: DX Spectrum provides advanced network monitoring capabilities such as fault isolation and scalability. It offers robust alerting suitable for large environments and supports extensive device modeling. WhatsUp Gold offers strong network topology mapping and intuitive monitoring, supporting SNMP trap handling, but lacks some advanced features seen in DX Spectrum.

Room for Improvement: DX Spectrum could benefit from a simplified interface and less complexity in event and alert setup. Its Java-based console is noted as complicated, with a need for HTML5 updates. WhatsUp Gold's areas of improvement include its outdated interface and limited advanced features, particularly in application monitoring.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both are primarily deployed on-premises. DX Spectrum users have mixed experiences with customer service, with some regional differences, but generally find technical support knowledgeable. WhatsUp Gold's customer service is often rated highly for consistency and responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: DX Spectrum is considered expensive, suitable for large enterprises with complex needs, offering significant ROI through its comprehensive features. Its licensing is flexible yet costly. WhatsUp Gold is more affordable for smaller to mid-sized businesses, providing good value for money. Its pricing depends on the number of devices and features used.

To learn more, read our detailed DX Spectrum vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

DX Spectrum vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

DX Spectrum

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

17th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

16th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

118

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (7th), Network Troubleshooting (7th), DX NetOps (1st)

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

26th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

20th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (39th), Server Monitoring (14th), Configuration Management (21st), Log Management (41st), Cloud Monitoring Software (26th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of DX Spectrum is 1.7%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 2.0%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
DX Spectrum	1.7%
WhatsUp Gold	2.0%
Other	96.3%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

PinchasAlbalya

Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Monitoring has become centralized and management now sees real‑time health of key network assets

The time investment required is significant, not because of difficulty but because of the need for free time to invest in it. We need to get the knowledge. We know there are many options, but we took an external vendor to install and make the customization. If we want to make others changes without paying for customization, we need to learn it deeply by ourselves. The tutorials are very complicated. They could work on that area. The tutorial part could be more simplified. I know there are many explanations, and you can get help or documents in one click on the current page in the product, but it is not very clear. If you want to do something new that you did not see from the vendor in the installation, it is not very simple. The documents are good for people that know how to operate the product well, but for new users, it is not simple.

Read full review

Erik Cheng

Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet

Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains

The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Thanks to Spectrum, we are able to monitor (and send out alarms for) our whole IT infrastructure 7/24 without having more than a minimal number of technical persons."

"Spectrum is very useful for us, because the product lets us monitor and control all the various components of our infrastructure that support our business from an IT perspective."

"Scalability and performance are great."

"It will aid in troubleshooting and daily operations, and is invaluable in fault resolution."

"This is a very powerful tool with a lot of functionality."

"This tool makes it more transparent to the customers, and they can be alerted and be proactive based on the data we are getting."

"Spectrum is the best."

"The stability is very good - the best we've seen in the market."

More DX Spectrum pros

"We primarily use the solution to check the state of the network, monitoring thousands of devices and all of the internal network, and it is the first tool we use to see the state of the network for real-time monitoring."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the visibility it offers of everything in the network and infrastructure."

"The installation and configuration process are easy."

"This is a good, stable network monitoring solution for devices."

"The most important features of WhatsUp Gold are the server health and uptime it provides. Additionally, WhatsUp Gold is a Windows-based solution which is a benefit."

"Auto scanning is most valuable. It looks for rogue devices on your network."

"The new version has a lot of improved features."

"We no longer have to manually search for problems because we are alerted when something in the network goes down."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"Reporting and network bandwidth monitoring features need to be improved."

"It doesn't really allow for multi-tenancy. If you're an ISP or an MSP and you want to use this tool to provide these types of fault management services to your customers, you would need a separate SpectroSERVER for each customer..."

"There should be better integration with other Broadcom products, like network performance manager. Currently, for every part of a product, you need a separate server environment. You have something for Spectrum, you have something for network performance, and you have something for NetFlow. There are a lot of islands and server farms with different technologies. They should be redeveloped to get one platform for all."

"The only area which I found that can be improved is that sometimes issues come up with alert clearing i.e. alerts don't clear when triggered and clear events occur too fast."

"CA Spectrum is expensive."

"I think it still has room for improvement as far as the application, but support could also be improved."

"We have had one support issue that's been open for a couple of months, and it is currently open."

"When we have a high capacity of traffic, we have problems with the stability of the system."

More DX Spectrum cons

"Integrations with other devices. I want to have a product that has full integration with my active directory so I can track user activity. I want to track my complete user activity, so I'm looking for a product to implement in the near future, which will have full integration with my network and active directory users. It became very difficult to track user activity."

"This product should add other options for monitoring. It does not currently meet the broader needs of the banking industry in the version we have deployed."

"Setting up WhatsUp Gold is complicated and not easy because it requires managing SNMP and many complex settings in the devices it's monitoring, and fine-tuning it to fit our needs is also not very easy."

"Adding on services increases the cost and on the version we have there is no option for ATM monitoring."

"The product is old and not updated."

"The point system is not clear and clarity around this would improve our understanding of the system."

"We can never achieve or get a good picture of the network topology."

"I would like to see better integration with switches so that you can see what is connected to each port, what the traffic is, and have a network map automatically generated."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing could be better."

"The product, support, and maintenance are all expensive, which is another reason that we are switching to another solution."

"The price is very high."

"Since the acquisition by Broadcom, we have not had such a good experience with licensing and pricing. Since they were bought by Broadcom, every sales contract is getting complicated. It's very complicated, and it's much more expensive than before. It's not a good pricing strategy from Broadcom."

"It is very pricey. With the current trend of enterprises moving towards cheaper and more modern looking solutions like ManageEngine, SevOne, ServicePilot, and Paesller."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"The cost of some of these products are a little cost prohibitive, which is unfortunate. We have to find lower cost solutions for some of the things that we have to pull in. For the most part, CA has capabilities in pretty much everything that you would need. You just have to figure out where are you going to spend the most money for what you have to actually get done. You can do all these things but, which ones do you have to do? And that's hard to choose sometimes because you want to do them all."

"Currently, a perpetual license but some services are moving to a subscription"

More DX Spectrum pricing and cost advice

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Construction Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	25
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	90

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DX Spectrum?

The price is very, very high.

See all answers

What needs improvement with DX Spectrum?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for DX Spectrum?

The university purchased DX Spectrum, called ICE. DX Spectrum NAC is working for us only on Cisco 9200 switches. It is not working on any other switch like C1000 or HG or any 2960X. Even other Cisc...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?

My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well as alarm notifications.

See all answers

Comparisons

Nagios XI vs DX Spectrum

Compared 6% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs DX Spectrum

Compared 5% of the time

Kentik vs DX Spectrum

Compared 3% of the time

Zabbix vs DX Spectrum

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs DX Spectrum

Compared 2% of the time

More DX Spectrum Competitors

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

SCOM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

LibreNMS vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

NinjaOne vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

More WhatsUp Gold Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

DX Spectrum

October 2026

Download DX Spectrum product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Also Known As

CA Spectrum

No data available

Overview

DX Spectrum is a comprehensive network monitoring tool designed for scalability and accuracy. With features like fault management, topological mapping, and customizability, it addresses network issues effectively while ensuring reliable infrastructure oversight.

Known for its robust capabilities, DX Spectrum excels in fault management and network monitoring, offering features such as Global Collections and Event Correlation for precise issue detection. This scalability allows it to monitor large infrastructures efficiently using SNMP traps. Automated device discovery and seamless integrations with tools like SOI and Zabbix enhance its functionality, providing users with a streamlined experience. The interface allows for deep visibility and is supported by REST API for improved integration and automation.

What are the key features of DX Spectrum?

Fault Management: Identifies and manages network faults efficiently.
Topological Mapping: Offers a graphical representation of network topology.
Customizability: Provides extensive options to tailor the tool to specific needs.
Global Collections: Enhances issue detection across networks.
Event Correlation: Reduces false alerts by correlating network events.
Scalability: Manages large networks with SNMP traps.
Automated Discovery: Automatically identifies and integrates devices into monitoring.
REST API: Facilitates seamless integration and automation.

Why should users consider DX Spectrum in reviews?

Operational Efficiency: Increases efficiency through automation and integration.
Deep Visibility: Provides comprehensive network visibility and control.
Reliability: Ensures stable and reliable network operations.
Integration Capabilities: Works seamlessly with multiple external tools.
Customizability: Allows customization to meet specific monitoring needs.
Proactive Management: Supports proactive issue resolution with accurate notifications.

DX Spectrum finds extensive applications across industries for network infrastructure monitoring. It is vital in sectors where maintaining service uptime and quickly resolving network faults is critical. Organizations leverage its configuration management, alarm/event management, and integration capabilities to maintain smooth network operations, especially in environments with large and complex network infrastructures.

Broadcom

WhatsUp Gold stands out with its comprehensive network monitoring, dynamic mapping, and real-time alerts, offering essential tools for managing extensive IT infrastructures.

WhatsUp Gold provides robust capabilities in network visibility through dynamic mapping and NetFlow analysis. The platform's interactive topology aids in pinpointing issues effectively. Auto-discovery ensures complete network device tracking. While offering an intuitive interface and integration with Cisco ServiceNow, users find server performance monitoring useful for incident handling. However, improvements are anticipated in application monitoring and Active Directory integration. The pricing model and customization options leave room for enhancement. Despite these, users benefit from its integrated dashboards for immediate device health checks and network updates, making it beneficial for large-scale infrastructure management.

What features does WhatsUp Gold offer?

Network Monitoring: Provides continuous oversight of network components
Dynamic Mapping: Offers visual representation of network topology
NetFlow Analysis: Delivers insights into bandwidth utilization
Threshold Alerts: Notifies users upon reaching set performance thresholds
Auto-Discovery: Detects devices automatically for complete network coverage

What benefits should users expect from reviews?

Comprehensive Visibility: Enhanced understanding of network elements
Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate insights into network and device status
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive solution suitable for expansive networks
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the management of complex networks

Organizations in sectors like telecommunications, education, and healthcare utilize WhatsUp Gold for their network monitoring needs. Telecom companies track switches and routers, educational institutions manage bandwidth usage, and healthcare facilities monitor device availability to ensure seamless operations.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

National Informatics Centre India, Banese, Olympus, AlphaServe Technologies, Sicredi

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

DX Spectrum vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Free Report: DX Spectrum vs. WhatsUp Gold

Find out what your peers are saying about DX Spectrum vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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